Mail paper sealing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A mail paper sealing apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes an input part, a compression roller part, a driving unit, and a convey accelerator. The input part supplies a mail paper. The compression roller part seals the folded mail paper conveyed from the input part. The driving unit generates a rotary force. The convey accelerator is provided between the input part and the compression roller part and adds a rotation frictional force to a top surface of one side of the mail paper in a convey direction.

CROSS REFERENCE

This application claims foreign priority under Paris Convention and 35U.S.C. §119 to each of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2008-0126438,filed 12 Dec. 2008 with the Korean Intellectual Property Office.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a mail paper sealing apparatus forsealing a folded mail paper. More particularly, the present inventionrelates to a mail paper sealing apparatus including an input part forautomatically or manually supplying a mail paper and a conveyaccelerator provided on a convey path between compression rollerssealing the folded mail paper to accelerate only one side of the mailpaper such that the mail paper is conveyed as being inclined by apredetermined angle with respect to a convey direction and enters thecompression roller part starting at a corner of one side of a front end,thereby not only obtaining a greater compression effect through agradual extension of a pressure area of the compression roller partstarting at a center but also greatly reducing an impact noise generatedat the time of compression.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, enterprises holding massive members such as financialinstitutions, government offices, etc. use a mail paper sealingapparatus for reducing a manufacturing time of various kinds of GIROpapers, invitation cards, bills, etc. sent to the members, reducing amanufacturing cost or a delivery cost, and collectively performing rapidfolding and sealing by multistage-folding a single sheet of mail paperwhose both surfaces are recorded with contents and sealing an edge ofthe mail paper in order to meet a restricted time limit for treatment ofa mail and mass manufacturing.

The mail paper sealing apparatus is a device for sequentiallycollectively performing processes of automatically or manually feeding,folding, and sealing a mail paper or automatically or manually inputtingand sealing a previously folded mail paper. The mail paper sealingapparatus performs automatic folding and sealing and makes front/rearsurfaces of one mail paper contact with each other on the basis of anyfolding line so as to complete one mail.

In general, a mail paper sealing apparatus includes a folding part forautomatically folding a mail paper to seal the mail paper. However,without the folding part, the mail paper sealing apparatus can beconstructed to be of various types of automatically or manually feedinga mail paper folded by a separate folding device or manually and sealingthe mail paper with a press roller part.

Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a general mail paper sealingapparatus includes a paper feeding part 1, a folding part 5, acompression roller part 9, and a driving unit 10.

In general, an edge of a mail paper is coated with a sealing adhesive.The mail paper can be constituted of either a single sheet or two outerand inner sheets. The mail paper is sequentially automatically fedthrough the paper feeding part 1 and conveyed to the folding part 5 andthen, is multistage-folded in the folding part 5.

After that, the folded mail paper is conveyed to the compression rollerpart 9 and is finally sealed in the compression roller part 9 and then,is discharged outside.

The compression roller part 9 includes a pair of press rollers 9 a and 9b and thus, simultaneously presses and compression-seals a top surfaceand bottom surface of the conveyed mail paper.

In conclusion, the mail paper is automatically fed from the paperfeeding part 1 and, while sequentially passing through the folding part5 and the compression roller part 9, is automatically folded accordingto defined standards and then is sealed and discharged.

However, the conventional mail paper sealing apparatus has the followingproblems.

First, a front end of the mail paper folded in the folding part 5 entersbetween the pair of press rollers 9 a and 9 b of the compression rollerpart 9 with keeping right angles with a convey direction and therefore,the press rollers 9 a and 9 b simultaneously press the whole surface ofthe front end of the folded mail paper. By doing so, the press rollers 9a and 9 b suffer warp and comes off at a center and thus, itscompression quality is deteriorated. Accordingly, there is a need forlarge-sized press rollers 9 a and 9 b of relatively large diametersbeing able to guarantee a greater compression force for the purpose ofpreventing the warp. However, there is a problem of remarkablyincreasing a manufacturing cost of a compression roller part 9.

Second, the whole surface of the front end of the mail papersimultaneously rapidly enters between the press rollers 9 a and 9 b andthen, the whole surface of a rear end is simultaneously released fromthe press rollers 9 a and 9 b. Because of this, there is a problem thatan impact noise increases when the mail paper is advanced into or isdischarged out the compression roller part 9.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An aspect of exemplary embodiments of the present invention is toaddress at least the problems and/or disadvantages and to provide atleast the advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect ofexemplary embodiments of the present invention is to provide a mailpaper sealing apparatus including a convey accelerator for adding arotation frictional force to one side of a top surface of the mail paperon a convey path between an input part for supplying a mail paper andcompression rollers sealing the mail paper such that a front end of themail paper is conveyed as being inclined by a predetermined angle withrespect to a convey direction, whereby, firstly, the mail paper canenter the compression roller part starting at a corner of one side of afront end of the mail paper and a press area of a press roller cangradually extend starting at a center, thereby making it possible toimprove a compression quality of a center of the mail paper despitegeneration of warp and, secondly, it is allowed to obtain a greatercompression effect with a miniature press roller of a relatively smalldiameter, thereby enabling the use of the miniature press roller and,thirdly, after the mail paper enters starting at a corner, a compressionarea of the mail paper gradually extends, thereby being able toremarkably reduce an impact noise generated when the mail paper isadvanced into or discharged out the compression roller part.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposeof the present invention, there is provided a mail paper sealingapparatus. The apparatus includes an input part, a compression rollerpart, a driving unit, and a convey accelerator. The input part suppliesa mail paper. The compression roller part seals the folded mail paperconveyed from the input part. The driving unit generates a rotary force.The convey accelerator is provided between the input part and thecompression roller part and adds a rotation frictional force to a topsurface of one side of the mail paper in a convey direction such thatthe mail paper from the input part is conveyed as being inclined by apredetermined angle with respect to the convey direction and enters thecompression roller part starting at a corner of one side of a front end.

The convey accelerator includes a rotation support member, a rotaryshaft, and a rotor. The rotation support member is fixedly coupled to amain frame and has a shaft insertion hole through-formed at a center.The rotary shaft is rotatably through-coupled into the shaft insertionhole of the rotation support member and is rotated by receiving a rotaryforce from the external. The rotor is coupled to one end of the rotaryshaft and presses a top surface of the mail paper during rotation suchthat a rotary force of the rotary shaft is added to the mail paper.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side diagram illustrating a mail paper sealingapparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial plane diagram of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial exploded perspective diagram illustrating a conveyaccelerator included in a mail paper sealing apparatus according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is a side diagram of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an operation state of a conveyaccelerator according to the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a side diagram illustrating a convey accelerator according toanother exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Throughout the drawings, the same drawing reference numerals will beunderstood to refer to the same elements, features and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described indetail with reference to the annexed drawings. In the followingdescription, a detailed description of known functions andconfigurations incorporated herein has been omitted for conciseness.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side diagram illustrating a mail paper sealingapparatus with a convey accelerator 50 of the present invention. FIG. 2is a schematic partial plane diagram of FIG. 1.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the mail paper sealing apparatus of thepresent invention includes an input part 6, a compression roller part 9,a driving unit 10, and the convey accelerator 50.

The input part 6 includes a feeding part 1 and a folding part 5 but doesnot intend to limit the scope of the present invention. Without theautomatic feeding part 1 or the folding part 5, the input part 6 can beconstructed to just manually supply and convey a folded mail paper 100to the compression roller part 9.

That is, the input part 6 can be of a structure of inputting apreviously folded mail paper 100, and can be a structure in which, afterfolding the mail paper 100 by hands, a worker inputs the folded mailpaper 100 using the automatic feeding part 1 or manually such that themail paper 100 can be input to the compression roller part 9 via theconvey accelerator 50.

The feeding part 1 successively automatically feeds the mail paper 100(shown in FIG. 2), and has a feed tray 2 being slanted and housing apredetermined amount of mail papers 100.

The mail paper 100 is loaded on the feed tray 2 and then is sequentiallyinput to the folding part 5 by a feed roller 1 a.

The folding part 5 multistage-folds the mail paper 100 conveyed from thefeeding part 1 according to defined standards, automatically folds themail paper 100 in a two-stage or three-stage manner, and conveys thefolded mail paper 100 to the compression roller part 9.

At this time, the folding part 5 accelerates the folded mail paper 100by a rotary force of a pair of discharge rollers 5a and sliding the mailpaper 100 on a support plate 7, thereby conveying the mail paper 100 tothe compression roller part 9.

The compression roller part 9 simultaneously presses and seals a topsurface and bottom surface of the folded mail paper 100. The compressionroller part 9 includes a pair of press rollers 9 a and 9 b formed ofmetal.

The upper and lower press rollers 9 a and 9 b are installed in a mainframe 3 to be rotatable at both ends and be parallel with each other attop and bottom sides such that they are operable in a direction ofrotating in engagement with each other. Outer circumference surfaces ofthe upper and lower press rollers 9 a and 9 b are maintained as beingminutely spaced apart by an interval slightly less than a thickness ofthe folded mail paper 100 such that the mail paper 100 can beeffectively pressed and sealed during passing.

Thus, while the mail paper 100 sequentially passes through the feedingpart 1, the folding part 5, and the compression roller part 9, the mailpaper 100 is automatically folded according to defined standards andthen is sealed and discharged outside.

The folding part 5 and the compression roller part 9 simultaneouslyreceive a rotary force from the driving unit 10 by belts 10 a and 10 band are operated.

The convey accelerator is described below in detail with reference toFIGS. 3 to 5.

FIG. 3 is a partial exploded perspective diagram illustrating a conveyaccelerator 50 included in a mail paper sealing apparatus according tothe present invention. FIG. 4 is a side diagram of the conveyaccelerator 50 of FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an operationstate of the convey accelerator 50 according to the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the convey accelerator 50 of the presentinvention is installed on a convey path between the folding part 5 ofthe input part 6 and the compression roller part 9. The conveyaccelerator 50 includes a rotation support member 20, a rotary shaft 30,and a rotor 40.

The rotation support member 20 is fixed to the main frame 3 and supportsrotation of the rotary shaft 30. The rotation support member 20 includesa body 21 and a flange 22.

The body 21 is of a cylindrical shape of a predetermined length having ashaft insertion hole 25 passing through a center, and the flange 22 isprovided at one end of the body 21.

The flange 22 is formed to have a cylindrical shape of a predeterminedthickness having a greater diameter than the body 21, and has aplurality of coupling holes 22′ through-formed at an equal intervalalong a circumference.

The rotation support member 20 is fixed by adhering the flange 22 to aninner surface of the main frame 3 and screw-coupling the flange 22through the coupling holes 22′.

Bearings 60 are each inner-installed at both sides of the rotationsupport member 20 to more effectively rotation-support the rotary shaft30. The bearings 60 may be coupled by forming a circular housing groove23 of a predetermined depth concentric with the shaft insertion hole 25and then pressing and inserting the bearings 60 into the circularhousing groove 23.

The rotation support member 20 is not limited to the above structure butcan have one bearing installed at a center or can use a bush, etc. forsupporting rotation.

The rotary shaft 30 receives a rotary force of the driving unit 10 fromthe discharge rollers 5a of the folding part 5 and rotate in the samedirection as the discharge rollers 5 a. The rotary shaft 30 is installedto be through-coupled to the bearings 60 of the rotation support member20.

In order to prevent an axial movement, the rotary shaft 30 can becoupled with a fixing ring (not shown) such as an ‘E’-ring, etc. thatcan be supported by each of both end surfaces of the rotation supportmember 20.

A driving wheel 35 is installed at one end of the rotary shaft 30.

The driving wheel 35 is rotatably coupled integrally with the rotaryshaft 30. The driving wheel 35 connects with the discharge roller 5 a ofthe folding part 5 by the belt 36 (shown in FIG. 2), thus receiving arotary force of the driving unit 10 from the folding part 5 and rotatingthe rotary shaft 30.

The driving wheel 35 can be inserted and coupled to a cutaway part 33formed at an end of the rotary shaft 30 and then, is fixed with a fixingring, etc.

The driving wheel 35 is formed to have a diameter suitable to rotate therotary shaft 30 such that the rotor 40 described below can rotatesomewhat faster than a convey speed of the mail paper 100 and acceleratethe mail paper 100.

The belt 36 can be various types of belts such as a circular belt, a‘V’-belt, a timing belt, etc. Also, in addition to belt connection, gearcoupling, etc. may be used to deliver a rotary force.

The rotor 40 is coupled to an end of the rotary shaft 30 to be rotatableintegrally with the rotary shaft 30 and adds a rotation frictional forceto a top surface of the folded mail paper 100 that is conveyed to thecompression roller part 9 from the folding part 5. The rotor 40 includesa support holder 41 and a rubber paddle 48.

The support holder 41 has a shaft insertion hole 42 through-formed at acenter to insert the rotary shaft 30. The support holder 41 has a shaftfixing part 43 formed at one end, and has a paddle fixing part 45 formedat the other end to fixing the rubber paddle 48.

The shaft fixing part 43 is coupled to the rotary shaft 30 such that thesupport holder 41 can rotate integrally with the rotary shaft 30. Theshaft fixing part 43 has insertion grooves (not shown) for insertingprotrusions 32 protruded and formed on outer circumference surfaces ofthe rotary shaft 30. The insertion grooves are each formed in positionscorresponding to the protrusions 32.

Thus, the support holder 41 is outer-inserted to the rotary shaft 30such that the protrusions 32 of the rotary shaft 30 can be inserted intothe insertion grooves of the shaft fixing part 43, whereby the supportholder 41 is rotatable integrally with the rotary shaft 30.

In addition to the aforementioned method, the shaft fixing part 43 maybe fixed to the rotary shaft 30 using a setscrew, etc.

Paddle insertion grooves 47 are radially formed at an equal interval tohave predetermined depths along an outer circumference surface of thepaddle fixing part 45. Cutaway parts 46 are each formed between thepaddle insertion grooves 47 to couple a fixing screw 45 a for fixing therubber paddle 48.

The paddle insertion grooves 47 can be formed to direct to a center ofthe rotary shaft 30. Unlike this, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the paddleinsertion grooves 47 may be formed to be slightly eccentric to one sidefrom the center of the rotary shaft 30 such that, when the supportholder 41 is rotated as indicated by an arrow, an end of the rubberpaddle 48 can more effectively contact with a top surface of the mailpaper 100.

The rubber paddle 48 is formed of elastic rubber of a proper length. Bythis, when the support holder 41 rotates, the end of the rubber paddle48 can be deformed and contacted while slightly pressing the top surfaceof the mail paper 100. Cutting parts 48 a can be formed at corners ofboth sides of a top end surface of the rubber paddle 48.

The rubber paddle 48 is fixed by inserting bottom ends of the rubberpaddles 48 into the paddle insertion grooves 47, coupling the fixingscrews 45 a to a plurality of coupling holes 45′ through-formed from thecutaway part 46 to the paddle insertion groove 47, and pressing a sidesurface of the rubber paddle 48 by front ends of the fixing screws 45 a.

An axial movement of the support holder 41 may be prevented by thefixing ring (i.e., the ‘E’-ring, etc.) installed at an end of the rotaryshaft 30.

An operation process of the mail paper sealing apparatus of the presentinvention is described below in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 5.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the mail paper 100 is continuously fed fromthe feeding part 1 (shown in FIG. 1) of the input part 6 and passesthrough the folding part 5 during folding and then, is discharged at apredetermined speed to the front through the discharge rollers 5 a ofthe folding part 5.

The mail paper 100 is discharged out of the folding part 5 and is slidand conveyed on a top surface of the support plate 7 provided betweenthe folding part 5 and the compression roller part 9 by a rotary forceof the discharge rollers 5 a. After that, a front end of the mail paper100 enters and compressed between the upper and lower press rollers 9 aand 9 b of the compression roller part 9.

The press rollers 9 a and 9 b receiving a rotary force of the drivingunit 10 and rotating in a direction opposite to each othersimultaneously press and seal the top and bottom surfaces of the inputmail paper 100 and then discharge the mail paper 100.

Because the rotary shaft 30 of the convey accelerator 50 connects by thebelt 36 with a driving wheel 5′ provided in the discharge roller 5 a ofthe folding part 5, the rotary shaft 30 rotates in the same direction asthe discharge roller 5 a. Because the driving wheel 35 is formed to havea smaller diameter than the driving wheel 5′ of the discharge roller 5a, the driving wheel 35 rotates relatively faster than the dischargeroller 5 a.

When a rear end of the mail paper 100 is released out of the dischargeroller 5 a of the folding part 5 and is slid on the support plate 7, therubber paddle 48 provided in the rotor 40 of the convey accelerator 50periodically contacts with a partial top surface of the mail paper 100during rotation and, at the same time, presses the mail paper 100 andadds the rotation frictional force, thereby accelerating one side of themail paper 100 in a convey direction.

The support plate 7 has a through-hole 7′ formed at its one side suchthat, upon rotation of the rotor 40, the support plate 7 does notinterfere with the rubber paddle 48, thus preventing the rubber paddle48 from directly contacting with the support plate 7 and generatingunnecessary noise or damage.

Thus, the rubber paddle 48 of the rotor 40 periodically presses apartial top surface of the mail paper 100 during rotation and adds arotation frictional force. By the rubber paddle 48, one side of the mailpaper 100 is accelerated and conveyed relatively faster than the otherside. By doing so, a skew phenomenon occurs in which the mail paper 100is conveyed as being slightly inclined by a predetermined angle withrespect to a convey direction whereby the mail paper 100 travels to thecompression roller part 9 starting at a corner of one side of a frontend of the mail paper 100.

A sealing work of the mail paper 100 is achieved gradually extending tothe whole surface starting at a corner of a front end. Also, when beingdischarged out of the compression roller part 9, the mail paper 100 isdischarged starting at the corner of the front end, and completes thedischarge while a corner of a rear end finally gets out of.

In another implementation, a mail paper sealing apparatus can be of asimple structure including an input part 6 with no automatic feedingpart 1 and folding part 5 and a compression roller part 9 and directlyinputting and sealing a previously folded mail paper 100. Even the mailpaper sealing apparatus may generate a skew in the mail paper 100 usinga convey accelerator 50 installed at one side of the first part of acompression roller part 9.

Thus, the present invention is effectively applicable to mail papersealing apparatuses of various structures sealing a variety of mailpapers 100 folded in a multistage such as a two-stage, a three-stage,etc.

FIG. 6 illustrates a convey accelerator according to another exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. Other than a construction of arotor 70 is the same as that of the aforementioned exemplary embodimentand thus, only a modified construction is described below.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the rotor 70 is a cylindrical sponge rollerformed to have a predetermined diameter.

The sponge roller 70 is out-inserted and coupled to the rotary shaft 30to be rotatable integrally with the rotary shaft 30. The sponge roller70 is formed of a cylindrical sponge having sufficient elasticity.

A diameter of the sponge roller 70 is provided such that, upon rotation,the sponge roller 70 slightly presses a top surface of the mail paper100 while adding a rotation frictional force to accelerate one side partof the mail paper 100 in the same method as that of the aforementionedexemplary embodiment.

In the present invention, the mail paper 100 is accelerated at one sideby the convey accelerator 50 provided on the convey path between theinput part 6 and the compression roller part 9, a front end of the mailpaper 100 is conveyed as being inclined by a predetermined angle withrespect to a convey direction, and the mail paper 100 enters thecompression roller part 9 starting at a corner of one side of a frontend of the mail paper 100 and then is discharged. By doing so, thepresent invention can obtain a greater compression effect, make itpossible to use a miniature press roller having a relative smalldiameter, and remarkably reduce an impact noise generated when the mailpaper 100 is advanced into or discharged out of the compression rollerpart 9.

As described above, the present invention has an effect that, when amail paper enters between a pair of press rollers of a press rollerpart, the mail paper enters starting at a corner of a front end and thena press area gradually extends, thereby making it possible to obtain agreater compression effect with a miniature compression roller of arelative small diameter and reducing a manufacturing cost and alsoremarkably reducing an impact noise generated when the mail paper isadvanced or discharged by the upper and lower press rollers, thus beingable to improve a quality of a product and merchantability.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to acertain preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined by the appended claims.

1. A mail paper sealing apparatus comprising: an input part forsupplying a mail paper; a compression roller part for sealing the foldedmail paper conveyed from the input part; a driving unit for generating arotary force; and a convey accelerator provided between the input partand the compression roller part and adding a rotation frictional forceto a top surface of one side of the mail paper in a convey directionsuch that the mail paper conveyed from the input part is conveyed asbeing inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to the conveydirection and enters the compression roller part starting at a corner ofone side of a front end.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conveyaccelerator comprises: a rotation support member fixedly coupled to amain frame and having a shaft insertion hole through-formed at a center;a rotary shaft rotatably through-coupled into the shaft insertion holeof the rotation support member and rotated by receiving a rotary forcefrom the external; and a rotor coupled to one end of the rotary shaftand pressing a top surface of the mail paper during rotation such that arotary force of the rotary shaft is added to the mail paper.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 2, wherein the rotor is a sponge roller pressing thetop surface of the mail paper by a predetermined elastic force duringrotation.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the rotor comprises: asupport holder coupled to the rotary shaft; and rubber paddles ofpredetermined lengths radially installed to be spaced an equal intervalapart along an outer circumference surface of the support holder andprovided to periodically press the top surface of the mail paper whileadding a rotation frictional force.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, whereinthe rubber paddles are installed to be eccentric to one side withrespect to a center of rotation of the rotary shaft such that ends canmore effectively contact with the top surface of the mail paper.
 6. Theapparatus of claim 2, wherein the rotation support member comprises: abody of a predetermined length having the shaft insertion hole formed ata center; and a flange part provided at an outer circumference surfaceof one end of the body and fixedly coupled to the main frame, whereinbearings are each inner-installed at both ends of the body torotation-support the rotary shaft.
 7. The apparatus of claim 2, whereina support plate is installed between the input part and the compressionroller part to support convey of the mail paper, and has a through-holein order not to interfere with the rotor.